Michael - Having a Personal Celestial Friend - Aug 13, 2007 - Marin TM

1. (Having a Personal Celestial Friend)
2. (Your Spirit Creativity That Makes You Human)
3. (Your Crowded Consciousness)
4. (Clearing up Your Mind)
5. (The Challenges of Teaching)
6. (Handling the Irreducible Other-ness of Others)
7. (Mystery, Uncertainty, and Infinity)

Dear Mother Spirit and Michael, I’m old enough to remember the coming of television, and our meetings these Monday evenings remind me of those early times when all the neighbors would be invited in to whoever had those first few sets receiving sound and sight. Sitting in front of that glowing tube, even with its rather limited programming, we thrilled to bring in the rest of the world. Now you offer us the cosmos. Perhaps almost in a similar way as those mechanical devices spread by pure curiosity, we look forward to the time when those who are able to receive and transmit your words become evermore universal. We look forward to that day when this reception is available to anybody who wants it. Meanwhile, dear parents of this vast local universe of Nebadon, we do treasure your words however they arrive. So we open our hearts and our minds to receive them. Amen.

NEBADONIA: Good evening, my dear children, this is your spirit mother Nebadonia. Let me echo your amen to that, for Michael and I also look forward to the day when we can talk as directly and succinctly to more and more of our human children on Urantia as we are doing with you tonight. Indeed this ability to receive us this way does mark a successive stage of planetary evolution at its most personal level. For this is largely a matter of a growth of consciousness, that wonderful special kind of spirit consciousness that marks the stages of your individual evolution as well. For right from birth, Michael and I are already a part of you as your spiritual parents--especially my Mind/Spirit Adjutants augmenting your own growing mental/physical abilities.

(Having a personal celestial friend)

We mentioned once before what you might think of as an intermediate stage, when more and more people are open to having a spiritual companion, usually a volunteer seraphim or ascendant mortal, coming to Urantia to befriend a human being for all the wonder and value you have to offer each other. Through a process of just entering your stillness and addressing your celestial friend, you can open your mind and your spirit and begin to write these messages from a source outside yourself. Some of you who are already successful at this call it journaling, keeping a journal of your conversations with your celestial friend.

Being generally a seraphim, or an ascendant mortal from another, far more advanced planet, they’re able to offer you spiritual insights--much as we do--from a different point of view much more extensive in experience than your own. But always keep in mind, my dear children, the priceless gift of your life, your experience, that you have to offer them. This you do
already with the presence of God within you, your Thought Adjuster, your Mystery Monitor, who is also providing a spiritual viewpoint, and actual thoughts for you to use, as you live your life’s experiences to create your mutually held soul.

Although this may seem like some extremely strange activity, perhaps even a little scary to some of you, opening your mind to another being aside from yourself to enter and literally talk with you through your written word, we encourage you to try it. Forget all your ages-old superstitions of alien beings taking over your soul. Those are only superstitions. Nothing can enter you, my dear children, that is not subject to your own dignity of will, your own ability to choose, your own power of accepting response-ability for your decisions. This is that sacrosanct and utter inviolable part of you that is yours alone, yours alone to give or refuse.

(Your spirit creativity that makes you human)

Indeed, it is your personality’s spiritual essence, your creativity, that allows you to depart from what you might think of, from a human perspective, as general reality. It was necessary even as a very young child for you to create a personal reality and a self-awareness that distinguishes you from even the highest animals. Because you are a spiritual being, you have this creativity; you are more than just an effect of universal animistic causes. Your personality creates an alternative, a co-created personal reality that gives you choice such as no animal can conceive or know. No animal can literally initiate preconceived behavior, no matter how subtle and extensive their learned responses. You as a human being can. So you see the double-edged sword here: this very creativity that makes you human cuts both ways. I say necessary because without a personal reality to give you a choice, without this relative freedom from strict cause and effect, there would be no true decisions to make: no personal alternatives. Ironically, this spiritual ability that makes it possible for you to be independent from general reality about you, and have a choice, means you are also capable of going against the universal flow of God’s will, even unintentionally. On the most simple level, this is what you call a mistake. If it is conscious and willfully done, this is what you call a sin. If you deliberately go against what are the best, most physically healthy, mentally expanding, and spiritually enlightening choices you can make for yourself and others, indulged in profoundly, it becomes iniquity. Supreme/Ultimately, you literally have the ability to totally remove yourself from God’s ongoing cosmos..

You can, in this way, choose to cease to exist, so inconstant with expanding, evolving reality you more or less wink out of existence. This is the limitlessness of your freedom. But by the same aspect, you can choose to discover, to seek out and discover God’s will as it manifests all about you, and right within your own soul. This is Universal Reality. This is what flows directly from the Creator.

Confronting human society, the multiplicity of personal wills and behavior and all the results flowing therefrom; there is on the absolute level no inconsistency here, even with those who depart so radically, even obscenely, from God’s will of love and goodness for all. On the absolute level it is God’s will that every single one of His children has this freedom, has the dignity of their own personal will. Ironically again, the very existence of mistakes, errors, sin, even iniquity, is proof of individual will. As to why this is God’s will, we can only say this is His very essence. The nature of Divinity is one of sharing, and so God chooses to share His experience of personal, individual will with all his children. The result of all these individual wills, combined with His single one, is living in what you see in front of you as you go out into society, as you encounter the results of this multiplicity of freedom.

To get to my original point tonight, one major determining factor in all this exercise of freewill is that of consciousness. You’ve asked in our lessons here how much free will is there when the individual is not consciously exercising this power, has never grown beyond the relative enslavement of culture, tradition, upbringing, even the unconscious denial of personal mistakes and misunderstandings? This movement, this evolution, this expansion of consciousness is only another name for maturity, both in the individual and the world. There is no abstraction here. Though the evaluation of a world’s maturity is far beyond any single human being’s ability to ascertain, it remains a fact this world’s maturity is no other than the sum total of all the real, living individuals who comprise it. So be of good cheer, my dear ones, this is that great game you are all involved in. This is the adventure of consciousness. This is the ability of personality to discern moral levels of conduct and choose between them. It is what makes you--conscious or not--co-creators of your own reality. Consciousness and choice are intrinsically tied together, arising, or failing to arise, together.

(Your crowded consciousness)

So fear not if more and more is impinging upon your sometimes seemingly crowded consciousness as more and more you become aware of a moral dimension in almost everything you do. This is good. This is the orientation you want. This is the real spiritual work you need to embrace. This is the way to grow. This is the ability to cultivate. This is literally the wealth of your soul. We are right here with you, my children, enjoying all your triumphs, feeling all your temporary setbacks; sharing your tears of both joy and sadness. We would have it no other way. We invite you to join us in this embrace as well. The choice is yours.

Now if you have any questions or comments this evening, you can choose to share them with the rest of us.

Student: Good evening, Mother. I have no burning questions tonight, just the realization as you were speaking, and before also, that I’m unloading my life of particles and pieces I’ve filled up my life with, but are no longer useful--material things, in addition to old ideas and old prejudices I’ve had that are still there. It is as you and Michael have put it lately: It’s quite an adventure, an ongoing process. I find that it seems like there is something else always there, ready to be dealt with. So thank you for all your support.

(Clearing up your mind)

NEBADONIA: You are very welcome, my son. We honor you for the courage it takes to feel this increasing sense of morality, the courage to feel the necessity to chose, rather than just numbing out in any number of ways. Your culture is, in its immaturity, thoroughly ridden-through with offers of all kinds of avoidance and denial. They may be as Michael said last week, silly habits for mere distraction, material possessions acquired at a younger age for which you now see there is no longer any need. You have a wonderful saying that: The foolish man acquires more and more every day; whereas the wise man gets rid of more and more. Isn’t this just another way of clearing up your consciousness, another way of achieving a pureness of awareness to enjoy the profound fact of living way above any particular thing in your life? So: carry on, my son, you’re doing fine.

Student: Thank you, mother.

NEBADONIA: Rest in my love.

Student: Yes, mother, I had the experience of participating in a workshop called Great Freedom two Wednesdays ago, where, after we had finished, one of the teachers came up to me and said he could see me being a teacher myself--of what they profess. It was interesting my response was resistance, considering that one of the reasons I participated initially in these teachings was to be a teacher, and to travel and do that. But I felt this resistance to being part of an organization for many reasons, one of them having been betrayed in the past by other organizations, spiritual and religious. And also the hierarchical structure to consider: there’s a leader, and then there’s people below the leader, and people below them… As I went deeper into this, I kind-of browsed around different religious and spiritual teachings on the internet, but came across so much that I kind-of, I won’t say broke down, but started questioning all of it.

I found I wanted to come from myself, my own energy sources. I wanted to discover my own voice, my own presence of God within me, my own reality of God-consciousness. The Great Freedom teachings did enhance my appreciation of pure awareness, of God-consciousness. Maybe I’m missing something but I want the reality to come from within me. Am I making sense?

NEBADONIA: Oh!—very much so.

Student (laughing): What am I grappling with here? That very next day there was a shift within me where I felt more at ease, that I am being directed in a way that is beneficial to me, and others around me.

One other thing before you answer: I get tired of getting caught in two different worlds, where I have a deep appreciation of God’s will within me, but sometimes the old habits or patterns or ways rise up. I have learned to be still when they occur. I talked with Michael about being impatient—where I get caught in those two worlds, where I only desire to be with God’s peace. (The challenges of teaching)

NEBADONIA: Yes, my son, You’ve had this general desire to be a teacher, yet when it’s laid right before you as a real possibility—now, you come face to face with the yawning chasm of the future we’ve talked about—the inability to know what exactly what is going to happen even in the next few minutes. This is exacerbated in an ironic way by your enhanced desire to speak from a genuineness of your own soul. This is the realization you want to share that which is unique to you, that which you alone have to offer. But here you are facing the spontaneity required to teach from this living center, that, even though it is your own self, my son, you cannot know entirely beforehand. Preparing for teaching is one thing; teaching is another. Part of the glory of the creative, spontaneous, spiritual part of you is that it cannot be anticipated. To teach the way you want to teach, you have to gather the nerve to just step off, and be—unavoidably—who you are, in front of your students. This requires a certain courage in being naked right to your soul. But is this not indeed what all the great teachers have been able to do?

So this reluctance you feel is a very valid one. It’s a mental/spiritual warning you are getting out there on the edge of what you know, what you can anticipate, what you possess to teach. Yet you also know too the desirability of stretching, carefully, out into this realm of service. The reluctance says, here is the beginning of that nakedness, letting your true self out to take on the responsibility of what you are offering others as the most valuable part of your experience. For you are correct, my son: this is what you have to teach: this is what makes a great teacher.

So it all makes a lot of sense. It is all very lucid in its own way. The reluctance cautions the courage and decisiveness needed to step off—live. Does this all make sense to you?

Student: Yes, it does. I also notice a fear that, if I decide to participate in their teachings, obviously this requires a commitment on my part, and I’ll need to change. I do know I cannot continue as I am, but… So…

NEBADONIA: But you can continue as you are. A great number of people do stall on this very point. That is their right and limitation. That is the fear of being naked down to your soul—the most valuable thing you have to offer another. Part of the reward in being a teacher is the moment to moment discovery of who you are. The situation calls for it; and it becomes its own reward. You have to keep in mind too the rewards of being a teacher.

Student: I guess part of my stalling is my own questioning about, is this for me? I’ve read so many other things that more completely capture what it is I want to teach. I know you won’t answer this, but should I go into being a teacher in this particular group? Or do I need to go into stillness? Because I can’t stall any longer. It feels like slow death.

NEBADONIA: Well, that’s a true enough perception. (much laughter) Now you are facing that part of your teaching you can know beforehand. This is making up your mind. This is the hard work of being comprehensive within yourself, and discovering what you do believe. It is wise to organize this before you step off.

The stepping off and actually teaching will put you into another dimension of a living presentation. So of course you have to know what you want to teach. The more comprehensive you are at one within yourself as to what you believe to be true, and worthy of being taught: all this is a necessary prerequisite. This can lead you to the right situation, the right group of people; or you can create you own school.

Student: Well, thank you.

NEBADONIA: You are welcome. There is much to consider, but as Michael said last week, the impatience you feel is a duality is being caught between desires and not knowing how to fulfill them, but may be necessary as a form of self-motivation to take that next step into the unknowable. So keep feeling deep within you, you are in my love. (there followed a very long pause, then, addressing a newcomer)

My daughter, is there anything you wish to share with us tonight?

Student: I found this very helpful. It follows along with some experiences I’ve been having. A dilemma I often come up against is when I find myself very acutely aware of the moral nuances in my situation, and the choices I need to make, along with a great desire to be personally present with another: to discover the lay of the land, so to speak--the moral questions before me.

I can get quite excited about that, and then when I meet resistance from someone, I always end up wanting to run and hide. I feel hurt by it. I really would like to find a different way to handle these situations so I can make some measure of progress in getting closer to another person. So I was wondering if you could help me find another way of looking at this?

(Handling the irreducible other-ness of others)

NEBADONIA: Yes. First, I think it will help to read what Michael offered as his lesson last week about what you humans (Mother Spirit chuckled) call the nitty-gritty of life. There is a kind of irreducible gritty-ness that is mentally and spiritually indigestible; just something there to be accepted. I can offer the spiritual insight that this is what makes each human encounter and situation unique—unique to you, unique to them, unique in time. A large part of that resistance you feel is actually your own ability to distinguish their personality and character—what makes them a unique person independent of your own projections, and anticipations, and desires—the excitement you spoke of. You are correct: this is what you have to deal with. They are more than just who you want them to be.

I think you can see and accept the necessity for this, the value of this. You would be woefully lost without this perception. Think of all those individuals who cannot distinguish between their own projections of who people are, and the people themselves. By accepting this perception, of what you call resistance, it opens the door to discovering this same quality in yourself—of who you really are in their presence. You are probably noticing you are one person when you are by yourself, and yet another with other people. But my daughter, this is universal, albeit a reality so many people avoid, or feel guilty or helpless about. On the contrary, it can be a wonderful fact of discovering another aspect, another dimension of yourself in the face of this irreducible, nitty-gritty resistance of another personality to be manipulated or taken for granted.

Be aware of whatever reluctance there is within yourself to accept this, to wish it were otherwise, to want some power of being able to control others, or have them to be more what you want, for that leads to the realm of self delusion. Rather, welcome, embrace your feeling of who others are, and be thankful you have it. It is a way of discovering and accepting the full reality of who you can be with them.

Thank about this and entertain the possibility, my dear one. It is not something you can swallow whole in one gulp. See if you can get a feeling of your own ability to choose whether to accept this vision, or not. Michael and I never would have the slightest desire to force anything upon you. We can only offer these insights as to what constitutes human reality. Does this at least seem to help?

Student: Yeah, it helps me to invite the other person to be more there as to who they really are. I’ll try to experience them without the window-dressing, or what I put on them. I like the idea of seeing their irreducible-ness, that they’re really there.

NEBADONIA: It comes as a great shock to a lot of folks—consciously, what they thought they knew all along, but were missing, or maybe even fearful of: that other people are what we’ve been calling little walking infinities. There is something there beyond what you can ever know. There is a true mystery in a person’s uniqueness and individuality beyond the generality—human being; as there is in you to yourself. (Yes) When you look deeply into another person’s eyes, it can come as a shock that there is no bottom, no final resolution there, for the fact you are both alive and changing, reacting. You just have to get used to it, welcome it, finally enjoy and thrive upon it. This is what you pointed at as your excitement before the event, that seems to get squashed in the event. Just keep stretching. Accept these situations are good for you. Develop a kind of ironic sense of humor with respect to our Father’s creating people as they are, and gain some faith in His absolute wisdom in doing so.

Student: OK. Thank you.

NEBADONIA: You are very welcome, my daughter. I salute your courage in expressing this, opening yourself to what is at times the hard part of reality. Embrace it. It is designed for your growth. Never forget you are in my love. I’m here to augment parts of your own being with understanding, courage, council--or gregariousness, of worship/thankfulness, and wisdom. So rest in my love. (a long pause)

(Mystery, uncertainty, and infinity)

And so we feel another facet of being together, of this kind of stillness we can share. (another long pause) It is indeed different from what you know when you are alone with yourself, and your stillness can seem very busy. But continue to persist. Just breathe deeply and feel your living body supporting you, keeping you in touch with the whole world, not only all the impersonal stuff and energy of it, but also all the other people as well. This is why we’ve given our lessons on mystery, and uncertainty, and infinity, to reassure you your perceptions of these are real. There is something to life that cannot be held fast, and fixed, no more than you can capture a river in a cup. You literally are the river, as well as being in it. Enjoy it well. Take it with a good dose of my love. Good evening.

END